Using the MC-14 Teleconverter on the Olympus 60mm macro lens

Interesting! I took my EM5 then 1.4x TC, then m4/3s to Nikon adapter then 60mm Nikon macro. Works like a champ!

Great work, thanks! Just a couple of comments on extension tubes, and the Fotga and similar in particular.  I ran some Fotga tubes for a while.

I found the aluminium felt a little gritty when mating with the stainless steel of the lens, and so recommend the slightest smidge of a light machine oil onto the tube mating surface before use.  (Use a cotton bud to pick up a small part of the smear left by a drop of oil on a surface like glass or porcelain, and then wipe the touched bud around the tube.  That's a smidge!)   Wipe the lens mating surface afterwards.

Then, don't leave the tube attached to the lens for any length of time, there is a considerable galvanic gap between stainless and aluminium and any dampness will accelerate corrosion.

Finally, Fotga is at the less expensive end of the market, and the tubes show some inconsistency in length.  Using a micrometer screw gauge (repeatability plus/minus 0.01 mm), I measured at the four quadrant points around the circumference:

16 mm: actual 15.88, 15.91, 15.97, 15.92 mm

10 mm: actual 10.00, 10.04, 10.12, 10.10 mm

The variation is around plus/minus 0.05 mm, so 0.1 mm.  It makes the assembled lens plus tube work a little like a tilt-shift (smile), and kicks the 60 mm macro lens off to one side or other by around 0.6 mm -- which is a significant tilt, I guess, for macro depth of field.

Interesting to use it as a tilt lens

lester11 wrote:

...

Then, don't leave the tube attached to the lens for any length of time, there is a considerable galvanic gap between stainless and aluminium and any dampness will accelerate corrosion.

Thanks for that bit of advice. I use my MC-14 solely for macro purposes, so I've stored it in a set with the tubes attached. Pretty dry, though, so no apparent damage so far, but for the future they will be stored separately.

Finally, Fotga is at the less expensive end of the market, and the tubes show some inconsistency in length. Using a micrometer screw gauge (repeatability plus/minus 0.01 mm), I measured at the four quadrant points around the circumference:

16 mm: actual 15.88, 15.91, 15.97, 15.92 mm

10 mm: actual 10.00, 10.04, 10.12, 10.10 mm

The variation is around plus/minus 0.05 mm, so 0.1 mm. It makes the assembled lens plus tube work a little like a tilt-shift (smile), and kicks the 60 mm macro lens off to one side or other by around 0.6 mm -- which is a significant tilt, I guess, for macro depth of field.

Interesting, thanks for sharing this. -- And that's why I do hope that OMDS's stated increased emphasis on macro could result in the offering of a set of high quality tubes.

I have the opposite problem.  I tried two sets of fotga last year and couldn't get more than a black screen.  Hoping it was a bad run, I tried again this week and got the same result: black screen with any combination of the 10/16 and my em1ii/60mm.

I switched everything over to the penF and it all works.  Incorporated the mc14... still ok.  Then back to the em1ii and stoked to still see an image.  When I removed the teleconverter though , black to black.

Neither fotga will engage the lens release on the em1ii, but both lock to the F (and the 10 to the mc14).  Is anyone else having latching issues or am I just 0 for 3 with fotga?  I assume this is needed for the camera to turn on the sensor.

I've "invested" in a Fotga 10mm and 16mm metal pair, thinking they might be more accurately machined than their plastic versions.  Not so.  At first, the MC-20 would not "click" into place on the 10 mm tube, and neither would my M1X.  I could get a display with the 10 mm on the 60 macro, but MF only and no shutter duration, though the f number showed happily.

I have a small engineering mill, so was able to increase the length of the slot on the Fotga which takes the locking pin of the MC-20 and the M1X.  Well, while I was there I increased the depth and breadth as well, but it was the length which was the decider.  Milling around 0.4 mm off the inside of the slot allowed the pin to click into place both with the MC-20 and the M1X.  Similarly milled the slot on the Fotga 16 mm, so the pins also clicked into place there.

The MC-20 mounted fine on the 10 mm tube, but not enough clearance to add the 60 macro.  The 16 mm would not accept the MC-20, the interior plastic interfering with the MC-20's front lens projection.  I also have a small engineering lathe, so bored out the interior of the 16 mm tube a little with a boring bar, only 0.3 mm, and that did it, the MC-20 dropped into place.

All working perfectly.  Sadly, if your Fotga's aren't working, they have insufficient clearance where it matters for the locking pin of the mating item.

lester11 wrote:

I measured at the four quadrant points around the circumference:

16 mm: actual 15.88, 15.91, 15.97, 15.92 mm

10 mm: actual 10.00, 10.04, 10.12, 10.10 mm

That was for the plastic versions of the Fotga tubes. Recently acquired the metal (aluminium) versions. Metal is easier to get spot-on than plastic, of course.

Metal 16 mm: actual 16.10, 16.12, 16.16, 16.24 mm - avg 16.155, tolerance +0.085 -0.055

Metal 10 mm: actual 10.18, 10.03, 10.11, 10.09 mm - avg 10.1, tolerance +/-0.08

Previously, the plastic 16 mm tolerance was +0.05 -0.04 and the 10 mm was +0.055 -0.065.

Good grief, the plastic tubes were better!

Not that anyone was asking but just FYI, the DMW-TC14 (Panasonic 1.4 TC) does fit with the Pixo 10mm tube on the Olympus 60mm macro but on a GH5 at least, the focus bracketing function does not work. Nor does any aperture control with standard settings. In camera, the aperture reads as 0.

look_a_cool_bug wrote:

I never did. Until recently I thought the extra connector on the MC14 was the problem.

But this week, I've started to have... well, the opposite problem: I got a macro rail for Christmas, and have been "pre-setting" the lens to 1:1 and the desired aperture before connecting the teleconverter. Very occasionally, something will click "just right" and the lens will abruptly achieve electronic connection and reset. Once, it even autofocused! For about five seconds. Then it lost the connection again.

So this tells me that contrary to what I've been experiencing, a working electronic connection *is* possible, and it's not a firmware issue. So I'm baffled again!

I've pretty much decided to use the MC14 only with a pre-set aperture (remember to hold aperture preview before disconnecting the lens! I keep forgetting and getting f/2.8, which is quite frustrating when it happens) and hard 1:1 focus, but if I change my mind, the next thing I'll try will be trying to find a way to add extra depth to the connector pins on the extension tubes - a layer of solder, maybe.

I had those issues, the problem are the adaptor rings, not the MC14 or the lens, they have some bad  connection due to some gap issue, if you try to rotate them in ont of the directions while connected, should solve the problem and get connection again...keep trying... sometimes is hard to find the sweet spot... I will try to exchange to other brnad to avoid this as well, it drives me crazy... (I have two fotga 10mm)

I found the MC-20 mounted fine on the Fotga 10 mm tube, but not the Fotga 16 mm, the interior plastic diameter too small for the MC-20's lens projection.  If you can bore or file out the interior of the 16 mm tube a little, I found removing a thickness of only 0.3 mm does it, the MC-20 drops into place.  I'd guess the same would apply to the MC-14, but I don't have one to test.  With MC-20, 10 mm, and 16 mm mounted, my 60 macro gives around 3x magnification with AF if wanted, width of view at 1:1 on the lens around 5 mm.

lester11 wrote:

I found the MC-20 mounted fine on the Fotga 10 mm tube, but not the Fotga 16 mm, the interior plastic diameter too small for the MC-20's lens projection. If you can bore or file out the interior of the 16 mm tube a little, I found removing a thickness of only 0.3 mm does it, the MC-20 drops into place. I'd guess the same would apply to the MC-14, but I don't have one to test. With MC-20, 10 mm, and 16 mm mounted, my 60 macro gives around 3x magnification with AF if wanted, width of view at 1:1 on the lens around 5 mm.

with MC14 on 2x10mm Fotga, no need to trim anything... either on NC or on Fotga...